ELYRIA — Lorain County’s 4-H program could feel the budget ax if the 0.25 percent sales tax increase proposed by the county commissioners fails to win the support of voters in November.

Jessica Robenolt, 19, of Oberlin, poses with her Arabian horse Snickers on Wednesday. (CT photo by Chuck Humel.)

The commissioners agreed Wednesday to a list of about $2.1 million worth of cuts that would be imposed on county government if the sales tax hike is shot down. The list included completely eliminating the $86,400 the commissioners have given to The Ohio State University Extension Office, which runs the county’s 4-H program, for the past two years.

Without that money, extension Director Linnette Goard warned, the office won’t be able to get state or federal matching funds and would have to close. With it would also close the 4-H program, which has more than 2,000 members involved in 86 clubs in the county. The extension office has a budget this year of nearly $287,000.

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“If the OSU Extension closes, 4-H is gone, and all extension services are gone,” Goard said.

Even if the Lorain County extension office were to merge with another county, most likely Medina, Goard said the commissioners would still need to contribute money. She also said that the extension has taken a proactive approach to possible budget problems and is laying off three employees.

The possibility of losing 4-H, which is heavily involved in the Lorain County Fair, doesn’t sit well with 16-year-old Kayla Mackey of Kipton, who is a member of two 4-H clubs that she credits with teaching her skills ranging from leadership to how to care for her rabbits and goats.

She said 4-H programs are in trouble all over the state because of budget cuts.

“I can’t see my life without 4-H,” Kayla said. “I understand that the county is going down, but so is everything else. We are one of the few counties that still has 4-H, and a lot of us are barely holding on.”

Commissioner Ted Kalo, who put forth the list of possible cuts, said he’s a longtime supporter of 4-H and isn’t happy about the cuts he had to propose, but the extension office isn’t a service that county government is mandated to provide.
“We don’t have the revenue,” he said. “We don’t have a whole lot of discretionary funding.”

Brenda Lea Teeters, one of the 376 adult 4-H volunteers in the county, said losing the extension office and 4-H would be great loss for the county, but she also hopes the possibility spurs voters to vote for the sales tax.

“I don’t think it’s a scare tactic, we’ve all felt the pinch,” Teeters said.

Commissioner Tom Williams, who has pushed for deeper cuts than Kalo proposed, said he wasn’t particularly pleased with the prospect of eliminating the county’s OSU extension office. He said he’d rather see the funding cut elsewhere in county government, possibly from county Auditor Mark Stewart’s budget, which would already be cut by $200,000 under Kalo’s proposal if the sales tax fails.

“We may have to make a cut, but I don’t want to lose federal funding, and I don’t want to lose 4-H,” Williams said. “But times are tough.”

Commissioner Lori Kokoski said she was a member of 4-H when she was growing up and she hopes that the program can survive. There’s always the possibility that the proposed cut to the extension office won’t need to be as severe, she said.
“The budget is a living document, so it’s something that can be changed,” she said.

Kalo’s proposal listed more than $2.1 million in cuts, although it also noted that another $372,600 worth of cuts will likely still need to be made if the tax increase fails.

If the full $2.5 million worth of cuts Kalo’s proposal said were necessary — which also included slashing the county’s contribution to Lorain County Transit from $100,000 to $50,000 — were imposed in the event the tax increase fails, they would allow the county to survive through 2012, but it would also mean there would be no carryover into 2013.

Williams said he believes additional cuts will be necessary or the county will be looking at an additional $12 million in budget reductions when 2013 arrives. Cuts will still be necessary if the sales tax passes, he said.

“I’m on board saying that the $2.5 million should balance our budget for 2012, but it doesn’t solve our problems,” he said.

The proposal would also see the county jail, which has an annual budget of nearly $12 million lose $350,000 if the tax hike fails. The jail is funded through a dedicated sales tax that generates around $7.5 million annually and the commissioners contribute the extra money.

Sheriff Phil Stammitti, who has avoided reductions to his law enforcement budget in the most recent cuts, said he doesn’t like the prospect of running the jail with less money. He said he’s already short staffed and doing everything he can to keep costs under control.

The commissioners need to find a better way to deal with the budget gap than just cutting, Stammitti said.

“It’s their job to come up with the funds so elected officials can run their offices,” Stammitti said.

County Prosecutor Dennis Will, who will see his budget cut $200,000 under Kalo’s proposal, said losing that kind of money will mean his office will take even longer to get work done. Some things might not get done at all, he said.

“There’s nowhere to absorb it,” Will said. “It’s going to be a reduction in personnel.”

The biggest potential cut under the proposal would be to the county’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judges, who would lose the $648,000 they use to fund the Pathways and Turning Point facilities.

Those facilities are among the few places the commissioners are able to cut in the court system because of orders from the county’s judges requiring the commissioners to fund their operations at a certain level.

Juvenile Court Administrator Doug Messer said both Pathways and Turning Point provide valuable and necessary services for the county’s children.

“We are very hopeful the citizens of Lorain County will see their way to pass the sales tax to avoid that catastrophic loss,” he said.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — The operators of Mardi Gras Lounge are seeking their own liquor license, a move that would separate the establishment from the permit held by Dean Costa, the owner of Uncle Vic’s Nightclub.

Mardi Gras Lounge’s current liquor permit is linked with two other downtown Elyria bars — Uncle Vic’s and Benchwarmers Sports Bar.

Costa’s permit, which currently covers the operations of Uncle Vic’s, Mardi Gras and Benchwarmers Sports Bar, will be the subject of a public hearing 1 p.m. Oct. 5 at Elyria City Hall.

The hearing has been called because City Council contends Costa should not be allowed to renew the permit because of the problems the bar causes. During the hearing, the city and Costa will be able to present evidence and testimony arguing why the state agency should or should not renew the permit for the coming year.

Costa did not return a call for comment Wednesday.

According to the Department of Liquor Control, the request for a new permit just for Mardi Gras was received Sept. 6. Shane Loudy, who has operated Mardi Gras as a separate facility from Uncle Vic’s and Benchwarmers since February, previously has said he will do whatever is necessary to work with police and separate the bar from other problems in the downtown area.

“I don’t want to operate a business where the police need to come,” he said previously.

Loudy declined to comment Wednesday.

Law Director Terry “Pete” Shilling said he knows the bar has been under management by someone other than Costa for several months.

“I think this is a case where they want to purchase a license for themselves,” he said.

The pending permit request will not affect the upcoming hearing for Costa’s permit. Shilling said the issues at this time are separate.

Mardi Gras has had a hard time disassociating itself from the same crime and violence the city has said is common at Uncle Vic’s.

Shortly after Loudy took over, police say a February stabbing occurred at the bar and a number of other incidents have been linked by police to the bar, including one that happened just within the past few days.

An Elyria woman had to be flown to a Cleveland hospital after she was stabbed in an apartment on the upper floors of the building housing the bar, according to a police report. She told police she initially got into an altercation with another woman inside Mardi Gras and, after she left, she said she was attacked again by the same woman on the fourth floor of the building.

Police Chief Duane Whitely said the city learned of the request for the new license recently and his office will compile a report of the activity inside the bar so Council can make a decision about whether it should object to Loudy receiving the new license.

“It’s my opinion we should object to that liquor permit request,” he said. “It is not my call, but is up to City Council. But I can say we have had a number of issues and complaints about Mardi Gras.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — The battle for second place in the Central Division remained at a standstill Tuesday at Progressive Field.

Travis Hafner, right, is congratulated by third base coach Steve Smith after hitting a two run home run off Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Gavin Floyd during the first inning in the first baseball game of a doubleheader yesterday. (AP photo.)

With only runner-up status to play for the rest of the regular season, the Indians and White Sox broke even in a day-night doubleheader, Cleveland snapping a five-game home losing skid with a 4-3 win in the opener before falling 5-4 in the second game.

“One long day down and we’re in the same spot,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta, whose team maintained a 11⁄2-game lead over the third-place Sox in the standings.

The Indians used a trio of home runs — Travis Hafner, Asdrubal Cabrera and Kosuke Fukudome — to power their way to a win in Game 1.

Hafner hit a two-run homer in the opening inning, while Cabrera went deep in the fourth. Fukudome’s solo shot in the fifth wound up being the game-winning hit.

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All of the long balls came off Chicago starter Gavin Floyd, who entered the day 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four starts against Cleveland this year.

“He’s had a lot of success against us, but any time you can score first, it gives you a good chance to win,” Hafner said. “I think we just got good pitches to hit and hit some out of the park.”

The power display backed a winning effort from Indians starter Fausto Carmona, who allowed three runs on seven hits over six innings. It was the right-hander’s first win at home since April 28 and his first overall since Aug. 17.

“Fausto did a nice job of battling the whole time,” Acta said. “He had a lot of traffic on the bases, but you have to give him credit, he didn’t crumble in any of those situations.”

Carmona, who began the year as the Indians’ ace, will likely get at least one more start before the season is over, but his body of work is all but complete. He is 7-15 with a 5.23 ERA in 31 starts.

“He’s been up and down, very much so,” Acta said. “Ever since he’s gotten back (from the disabled list), he’s been decent, but overall, he’s been up and down. We hope we don’t have to deal with the inconsistencies next year.”

The Indians led early in the night cap, scoring the first four runs of the game in the fourth inning. But they couldn’t hold the advantage, with Chicago scoring five unanswered runs — two in a game-changing sixth.

A bad feed from shortstop Jason Donald to second baseman Luis Valbuena on a failed double-play attempt proved pivotal in the sixth, with the following batter, Alejandro De Aza dropping a double in front of a sliding Shelley Duncan in left off reliever Rafael Perez to pull Chicago within a run.

The Sox scored twice in the seventh off Zach Putnam to forge ahead for good.

“We lost the game in the sixth inning,” Acta said. “We had to turn that double play.”

Donald made amends, offensively, accounting for four of Cleveland’s nine hits in the nightcap. Donald is batting .310 with a homer and six RBIs in 33 games since being promoted from Triple-A Columbus.

“He’s been really good since he’s come up,” Acta said. “He’s really given us a lift. He’s done a very nice job, offensively.”

Zach McAllister was recalled from Columbus on Monday to make his third spot start of the season for the Indians. It was much better than his first two, with the right-hander allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out four over 5 1/3 innings.

McAllister shut out Chicago on three hits over the first four innings.

“I thought I just executed pitches better,” McAllister said. “That was the biggest thing for me, executing and getting ahead in the count. That’s something I did in Triple-A. It was nice to be doing that on this level.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

CLEVELAND — The battle for second place in the Central Division remained at a standstill Tuesday at Progressive Field.

With only runner-up status to play for the rest of the regular season, the Indians and White Sox broke even in a day-night doubleheader, Cleveland snapping a five-game home losing skid with a 4-3 win in the opener before falling 5-4 in the second game.

“One long day down and we’re in the same spot,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta, whose team maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over the third-place Sox in the standings.

The Indians used a trio of home runs — Travis Hafner, Asdrubal Cabrera and Kosuke Fukudome — to power their way to a win in Game 1.

Hafner hit a two-run homer in the opening inning, while Cabrera went deep in the fourth. Fukudome’s solo shot in the fifth wound up being the game-winning hit.

All of the long balls came off Chicago starter Gavin Floyd, who entered the day 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four starts against Cleveland this year.

“He’s had a lot of success against us, but any time you can score first, it gives you a good chance to win,” Hafner said. “I think we just got good pitches to hit and hit some our of the park.”

The power display backed a winning effort from Indians starter Fausto Carmona, who allowed three runs on seven hits over six innings. It was the right-hander’s first win at home since April 28 and his first overall since Aug. 17.

“Fausto did a nice job of battling the whole time,” Acta said. “He had a lot of traffic on the bases, but you have to give him credit, he didn’t crumble in any of those situations.”

Carmona, who began the year as the Indians’ ace, will likely get at least one more start before the season is over, but his body of work is all but complete. He is 7-15 with a 5.23 ERA in 31 starts.

“He’s been up and down, very much so,” Acta said. “Ever since he’s gotten back (from the disabled list), he’s been decent, but overall, he’s been up and down. We hope we don’t have to deal with the inconsistencies next year.”

The Indians led early in the night cap, scoring the first four runs of the game in the fourth inning. But they couldn’t hold the advantage, with Chicago scoring five unanswered runs — two in a game-changing sixth.

A bad feed from shortstop Jason Donald to second baseman Luis Valbuena on a failed double-play attempt proved pivotal in the sixth, with the following batter, Alejandro De Aza dropping a double in front of a sliding Shelley Duncan in left off reliever Rafael Perez to pull Chicago within a run.

The Sox scored twice in the seventh off Zach Putnam to forge ahead for good.

“We lost the game in the sixth inning,” Acta said. “We had to turn that double play.”

Donald made amends, offensively, accounting for four of Cleveland’s nine hits in the nightcap. Donald is batting .310 with a homer and six RBIs in 33 games since being promoted from Triple-A Columbus.

“He’s been really good since he’s come up,” Acta said. “He’s really given us a lift. He’s done a very nice job, offensively.”

Zach McAllister was recalled from Columbus on Monday to make his third spot start of the season for the Indians. It was much better than his first two, with the right-hander allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out four over 5 1/3 innings.

McAllister shut out Chicago on three hits over the first four innings.

“I thought I just executed pitches better,” McAllister said. “That was the biggest thing for me, executing and getting ahead in the count. That’s something I did in Triple-A. It was nice to be doing that on this level.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.